Supporting Tolerance and Cultural Understanding at Home and Around the World

File under: Building bridges and opening doors is a global, never ending process.

Where We Stand

There has, we should acknowledge, been improvement since the grim days of rigid, overt racial prejudice. Today, the people of the United States face daunting issues together, and we share a mutual concern for the safety of all our citizens. While many barriers and prejudices still exist, there is now wide recognition of the social and political advances the African-American community made on behalf of all Americans in the decades since the end of World War II. Demographic and social changes have slowly altered the “black-white” polarity that dominated most of America's history, and we find ourselves part of a country that has begun to embrace the diversity it has always celebrated.

The Big Idea

Develop a self-reinforcing community that supports inquiry into world cultures … and celebrates diversity around the globe.

The Initiative

The World Cultural Foundation, a nonprofit group committed to encouraging communication and understanding among the world's cultures. Among the group's innovative and popular programs is its International PenFriends campaign, which allows members to correspond with people in different regions of the world.

[Our] purpose is to promote cultural understanding throughout the world. Our programs have reached into 251 countries and territories worldwide; [we have worked with] over 4 million members.

—From the World Cultural Foundation's mission statement.